Charlie and his uncle
by Sagor
Summary: Post season 4. Charlie, Lucifer's nephew, grows up without knowing his devilish uncle, who has returned to hell in order to protect the people that he loves. But then, several years later, a mysterious birthday present turns up...
1. Chapter 1

Growing up I had a pretty normal childhood, I suppose, despite being the only child on earth with wings.

My parents, the human Linda and the angel Amenadiel, did their best to support my uniqueness while at the same time keeping me grounded. The latter sometimes quite literally. This was for example the case when my 4-year-old self, high on a sugar rush after an afternoon of indulging in ice-cream and sweets with my favourite demon and babysitter, Mazikeen, began flying around the house like a mad person, trashing furniture and terrorizing the house cat.

"Tie him down," yelled my mother while jumping up and down trying to grab my feet at the same time as I crashed a second chandelier, by accident I would like to add.

My father on the other hand just looked at me with stars twinkling in his eyes, so proud that he nearly burst.

"Just let him fly, Linda," he said with a stupid smile on his face. "He is an angel. Let him fly."

My mother, however, always the practical one of the two, did not yield.

"Tie. Him. Down. We can't afford redecorating the house one more time this year."

And dad did as she wished and soon enough I was drifting over the dinner table, my right ankle tied with a rope to my usual chair, my hair lightly stroking the ceiling.

"New house rule," mother declared. "No sweets before dinner." She gave Mazikeen a dark look over her glass of wine. Then, glancing upward towards me, she added: "And we will sit down during dinner, Charlie, no matter if we are human, demon, angel or something in between. Do you understand?"

I obeyed reluctantly and was immediately forgiven by everyone involved, well except for the house cat who until this day hisses at me whenever I enter a room.

With time I learned to better control my wings and my flying abilities. I also learned when and to whom it was appropriate to show my wings and when it was not.

"To show your wings to somebody, specially a human, is a very personal thing," my father explained to me once when we were out soaring through the sky high above the city of Los Angeles. "It is something one should only do after long and careful consideration."

"Like you did with mum?" I asked.

My dad shrugged, his lips formed a secret smile.

"Linda was different from ordinary human. I did not have to hide from her, not for long anyway" he said. "She already knew about heaven and hell, being friends with Luci and all..."

He stopped himself, a worried frown suddenly appearing on his forehead as if he thought he had said too much.

"Who is Luci?" I asked curiously but my father did not answer. Instead he abruptly turned around mid air, his large, white wings flapping widley.

"It will be time for dinner soon," he said hoarsely. "We mustn't let your mother wait."

As we began our journey back home I noticed something glittering in my father's eyes. Tears. They disappeared so quickly that I later thought that maybe I had imagined them. Still, several years would pass before my father ever mentioned Luci again.

As a child I was never alone. Besides my parents and Mazikeen there were Dan the cop and his daughter Trixie who often visited us for game nights or taco tuesdays and Ella, the forensic scientist, who taught me everything I needed to know about God, ghosts and old cars. And then of course there was Chloe, sad, beautiful Chloe with eyes haunted by an unspoken loss. She was always very nice to me and as Trixie's mother and a good friend to my parents she was a natural guest in over house. Yet I always had the horrible feeling that I somehow was part of the reason to why she was so sad, an event of some sort that my parents would not speak of and which I myself could not remember. The mystery only grew more intense when I sometimes late at night, when they all thought that I was sound asleep, could hear the grown-ups in hushed voices discuss my god father and uncle, a man who I had never meet. Who was he and what had happened to him?

It was not until after my 12th birthday that I started to get some of the answers to my many, many questions.


	2. Chapter 2

The first clue we got that something was up was the odd birthday present.

As usual my mother had cleared a whole table in the living room where the party guests could place their gifts before they moved on to the buffé in the kitchen. By the time I finally was aloud to open them Dan was already on his third plate of chicken wings, Mazikeen had moved on from vine to the stronger liquor stuff that she had found in a kitchen cabinet, Ella and Trixie were intensively discussing the relative effectiveness of exorcism all the while Chloe was sneak eating pieces of birthday cake, trying to hide it but with a dot of cream on her nose giving her away.

Full of expectations, I had always loved birthday gifts, I started to tear off paper and undo perfectly knotted bows. What I found underneath was mostly what one would expect for your' 12th birthday party: A new baseball glove, tickets to see LA Galaxy's next game, new headphones for my cell phone and that sort of thing. I say mostly, however, because one of the gifts certainly was way out of place.

"Uh, what is this?" I asked confused as I dragged off the final piece of wrapping paper from what looked like a long rod with a chain in one end, the chain being attached to small spiked ball.

"No way! That's so cool!" shouted Ella and before anyone knew it she was up on her feet, arms stretching to touch the strange object.

"You know it?" I asked.

"Duh, of course I do. It is a morningstar, just one of the coolest weapons from medieval times..."

"... and highly inappropriate to give a 12 year-old," my mother cut in and coaxed the thing out of my hands.

I don't know who looked more disappointed by this, me or Ella.

"Maze," said my father, sudden anger in his voice. "Was this your idea? I thought I've told you a thousand times, NO WEAPONS before he turns eighteen."

"Or like never, even if he becomes a hundred years old..." my mum added.

But Mazikeen held up her hands, all innocent looking.

"Hey, it wasn't me. You're barking up the wrong demon this time."

"Seriously?" mum said with disbelief.

"Yeah, seriously Linda. I wouldn't do that to your kid."

Of course mum had no idea at the time that Mazikeen and I secretly had been practicing throwing knifes at each other for the last six months. But this particular weapon, however, neither of us had seen before. The same was also true for our other guests and so whoever the giver of the morningstar was, became a unsolved mystery.

That was until five days later when I encountered him in our house.

I had just come home from school and was lounging on the sofa in the living room, playing on my Ipad, when I heard a loud noise from the kitchen. The sound of someone dropping something heavy, soon followed by a: "Bloody hell."

Since I had believed that I was home alone, I jumped to my feet, suddenly very alarmed to say the least.

"Mum? Dad?" I whispered knowing full well that the voice I had heard did not belong to either of them.

A few seconds later a head popped through the kitchen door soon followed by the body it was attached to; a nice looking man in a fancy suit, a devilish smile on his face. I did not think as the practice I had done with Mazikeen took a hold of me.

_Swosh. Swosh. _The knives that left my hands landed firmly in the wall behind the man, just close enough for the stranger to feel them pass over his delicate skin without actually shedding any blood. The smile on his face vanished quickly.

"I be damned," the stranger said. "First murder attempt and I've only been back on earth an hour. I am as popular as ever, I guess."

His dark gaze found me, a light of recognition suddenly appearing in his eyes.

"Charlie? Is that you?" he asked taking a step towards me. "Fancy that, it is you! Been practicing with my favourite demon, have you?"

My blood froze at the same time as I prepared another set of knives. How did he know my name? And Mazikeen?

"Stop where you are," I said but the man only came closer, that all-knowing-smile reappearing on his handsome face.

"Did you like my present, Charlie? Surely, it was a lot better than some silly sport gadget like the one Dan the douche gave you..."

_Swosh_. This time my knife flew straight in to his heart...

... but the stranger only looked down, a small frown creasing his forehead.

"Why, is that the way to greet your long lost uncle? With a knife?"

He grabbed the weapon with one hand and pulled it out from his chest, not leaving so much as a blood stain on his snow white shirt.

I stared at him in horror.

"Who... who are you?" I stuttered.

The stranger's smile broadened.

"I am Lucifer, of course. Lucifer Morningstar."

What followed was one of the strangest afternoons in my life.


	3. Chapter 3

"Luci!" my dad howled as he crossed the threshold and saw his long lost brother sitting at our kitchen table. And this time I was absolutely sure it was tears I saw in his eyes as the two men hugged each other.

Mum, who had come home half an hour earlier, poured everyone except me a new glass of scotch. It was her third one. I am sure she was as glad as dad to see my uncle, it was just that she expected... trouble... to follow in his wake.

"God, it has been twelve years, Luci!" dad exclaimed.

"Please don't drag our father in to this, brother," my uncle pleaded, also his eyes bright of unshed tears.

"You could have warned us that you planned on coming by," mum said sourly when we all finally had settled around the table with microwaved pizza on our plates. "Giving us a heads up would had been nice, so we could have prepared something a bit nicer..."

She made a hand gesture towards the hastily prepared dinner.

Lucifer looked up. Surprised.

"But I did warn you. I swear I did. Why, did you not get my birthday present?"

"It was you!" I exclaimed, food still in my mouth. "The weapon? The morningstar?"

My uncle gave me one of he his infamous smiles.

"Indeed it was. A morningstar as in Lucifer Morningstar. Get it?"

He winked at me and I sniggered.

"You gave him a WEAPON?" Mum's voice was dangerously low.

"Well yeah. I thought it was the perfect gift for a young man coming of age."

"Wrong century," my father mumbled under his breath.

"You gave MY SON a weapon?" Mum looked ready to explode.

My uncle's eyes began darting back and forth around the table. The devil himself was lost for words when confronted by my mother.

"Well, seeing he is doing so well with the knives I thought..." he began.

"What knives?" both mum and dad broke in, after which all three growns up turned their eyes on me.

"Oh, bloody hell," I thought and wished that I could sink through the floor that very second.

Hours later when the matter had been settled - please do not ask me to give any further details about this, it is too humiliating, just let us concluded that I would not like to be Maze the next time mum gets her hands on her - Lucifer finally told us why he had come back to earth.

"I have a runaway that I need to bring back," he said pacing up and down or living room while dad, mum and me were sitting huddled together in the sofa.

"A demon?" mum asked.

"The nastiest kind, i'm afraid," my uncle confirmed. "And a distant relative of Maze, if you can believe it. So now you see why I am in such a hurry. I need to save the earth bla bla bla and bring the demon and myself back to hell in less than 24 hours."

"Can't you just let it slide?" dad asked.

"Can't I do WHAT?"

Lucifer stopped mid-stride, staring at my father as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Or his ears.

"Let it slide, Luci. Let this demon roam free. I am sure the world can handle one single demon. After all it could handle you and me living in the same city for years."

"Yeah," my mother agreed. "Stay here with us and spend some time with your family instead."

But my uncle only shook his head.

"Don't you remember the last time I _let it slide_? It almost ruined all over lives, especially Charlie's here. And the time before that? Hell, that demon has been voted president by now with full access to the nuclear program. Sorry, brother and Linda, but I will not risk anything similar to happen ever again."

How could anyone argument with that?

The answer was of course that we couldn't and the room fell silent for a long time. Then my father sighed heavily.

"Then I will help you catch him," he said slowly. "At least than you can stay the night here, resting." When Lucifer looked like he was about to protest, dad just added: "Two works faster than one, Luci."

"And three works faster than two," mum interjected. "I will help you as well. And don't you dare try to stop me."

"I wouldn't dream of it," my uncle said with a grin. "After all, by now you are the psychological expert on hellish creatures."

Afterwards my parents and Lucifer shared another bottle of Scotch. My dad started to yawn half way through and soon enough he was snoring loudly in the sofa besides mum and me. I myself had nestled my head comfortably in my mother's lap, eyelids heavy and half closed. I was still full awake, though, taken in every little detail of this strange night. However, I am sure that my mum and uncle both thought me asleep when they had the following conversation

"You should speak to Chloe," my mum suddenly said softly. "Tell her that you're back."

Lucifer shook his head gravely. He was sitting in one of the armchairs opposite the sofa and for the first time since I had meet him all playfulness had disappeared from his face. He was dead serious when he said.

"What would be the point of that? I'm only going to be here for 18 hours more or so. Should I just pop-in, say 'hello' and be gone again? Haven't I tortured her enough?"

"Oh, Luci. Knowing you isn't torture."

"Isn't it, Linda?" said my uncle with a mirthless smile that never reached his eyes. "I'm sure as hell managed to hurt everyone I ever cared about. Over and over again."

A horrible realisation dawned on me. My handsome and wonderfully clever uncle, Lord of the underworld, despised himself. No, he _hated _himself.

Next morning the grown-ups were all gone; out and about to catch a runaway demon in the sprawling city of Los Angeles.

I had tried to convince them to take me with them, reminding them of my knife throwing skills (which, it turned out, did not help my cause) but in vain. In this century, which I'm unfortunate to be living in, I am still considered to be a helpless child. As Lucifer had put it: If I on the other hand had been living in 12th century England it had been another question entirely...

"Don't encourage him," my mother had groaned and then they were out the door.

I spent the morning and better part of the afternoon sulking in front of the TV, chocolate chip cookies and Oreos being my dinner of choice. My wings were itching something terrible underneath my t-shirt, longing for a good flight out in the open but knowing that I could not risk bringing more of my mother's wrath down on me right now, I stayed inside. Needless to say, I was in a horrible mood.

The sun was already setting outside the large, living room windows when I at last heard a knock on the door. I opened carefully with one set of knives ready up my sleeve (the only pair my mother had not found when she ransacked my room last night) only to find Chloe Decker standing on our front porch.

"Hi, Charlie," she said. "Is your mum home?"


	4. Chapter 4

So I lied. I lied to Chloe, one of my parents' closest friends. I am not proud of myself, I swear to you I am not, but I really thought I did the right thing considering the conversation I overheard last night. Letting Chloe Decker know that my uncle was back in town would have been torture for her, or so I sincerely believed. Time would of course prove both me and my uncle wrong. We were kind of alike in that regard.

"So," said Chloe a bit confused after hearing me awkwardly trying to explain my partens' mysterious absence. "So your mother, Linda, has completely forgotten that we were going to catch a movie this evening. This after she has been pestering me about a 'girls night out' for the last six months?"

Yeah, putting it like that it did not at all sound like my mother, who usually remembered every tiny little detail like which socks I was wearing to school ("Change those right now," she often yelled at me if I tried to wear the same pair two days in a row) or if my dad in a soft moment promised five months before to do all the dishes on Christmas.

Like she had been reading my mind Chloe suddenly pushed passed me in the doorway and entered the house,

"There is something you are not telling me, Charlie," she said. "And don't you try to hide it, I know when something is up. I'm a cop, remember?"

She began searching the rooms on the ground floor like she thought my parents were hiding in there or something.

"Tell me the truth, Charlie," she said and looked at me sternly. "Is your mother still angry at me? For eating all the cake at your party I mean."

I tried to assure her that no, mum was not angry with her, but Chloe kept on going.

"Please, please tell her that I didn't mean to eat up the whole thing. I was just having a really bad day. I had just found out that they are going to do a reboot of Hot tub high school and wanted me to play the grandmother. The _grandmother_, can you believe it?"

"Hot tub high school?" I asked confused.

"Yeah, it is an old movie," Chloe shrugged. "But DON'T google it. Please, then your parents would never forgive me for sure."

She paced back and forth in our living room for another couple of minutes before she at last believed me when I said that my mother was not lurking in the shadows, waiting for her to be on her way.

"I'm sorry, Charlie," she said just before she departed. "I don't know what got in to me. I just had this feeling that something was up... Anyway, tell your mother to call me, would you?"

I saw her disappear down the street, wishing too late that I had told her the truth.

Barely five minutes after Chloe's departure my parents and Lucifer came crashing through the very same front door.

My uncle was in an excellent mood.

"Champagne for everyone," he demanded joyfully, his white teeth shining bright and his expensive suit hardly even ruffled.

My parents' expressions on the other hand were another story, bruises covering both their faces, clothes torn in a dozen different places. To my horror I even noticed splashes of blood on my father's shirt but since he is an angel and therefore can't be hurt I figured it has to be someone else's. Before I had the chance to say anything, however, my mother exclaimed:

"Oh, I had forgotten how fun that was!"

"Me too," my father agreed after which they both sniggerad like teenagers.

Lucifer who by this time had helped himself to the liquor cabinet, raised a glass saying:

"Another demon bites the dust, as my friend Freddie M. would have put it."

"Amen," my parents said unanimously, joining him with their own glasses in hand.

To get the full story out of them proved near impossible at this point so I just went with the celebration, no further questions asked. All too soon, however, it was time for my uncle to go back home.

"Hell awaits me" he said and drained the last of the liquor. "But trust me I will be back before you know it. And..." He pointed straight at me when he said this. "...on your next birthday, Charlie, I will be here in person, I promise. I am your godfather after all. A question, though, when is the suitable age to bring someone to a strip club for the first time? 14? 15?"

He barely had the time to duck before mum had a swing at him, her face flashing red with anger.

"Oh Luci, when will you ever learn?" dad groaned hiding his face in his palms.

They were all still bickering about it when suddenly the front door flew open anew and a breathless Chloe reentered the scene.

"Charlie, did I leave my car keys here..." she began but the words caught in her throat as her eyes first spotted mum and dad and then... Lucifer.

The room grew very, very still.

"Detective," my uncle breathed, utter panic gleaming in his eyes. There was no escape for him. Not now.

"You're back," Chloe said stunned. She shook her head disbelievingly. "When... For how long... Are you back for good or...?"

"I need... need to leave," my uncle stuttered. He swallowed. "Right now actually."

Chloe's eyes darkened. In three long strides she had crossed the living room floor to the place where he stood, her hands turned into fists. She began pounding him in the chest almost immediately.

"How dare you come back and not tell me? Not a word?! My god, Lucifer, it has been twelve years. Twelve..."

In shock I watched how my uncle did nothing to stop her ongoing assault. Rather he carefully put his arms around her and when she started to sobb the fight gradually transformed into a hug. By then the tears were streaming down my uncle's cheeks as well.

"Maybe we should give the two of them some privacy," my mother muttered but no sooner had she spoken the words before a sudden breeze swept through the room. I caught a short glimpse of angel wings spreading out and then they were gone, both Lucifer and Chloe.

They did not go far, however, landing just outside in our backyard. We continued watching them through the windows of course. My uncle and Chloe stood very closely together out on the patio, cheek against cheek, moving slightly from side to side like they were caught in a slow dance. High above them the stars glistened in the night sky, the soft light of the moon reflecting in the huge, white wings on my uncle's back.

And I finally knew that I had nothing to do with the sadness in Chloe Deckers eyes. Well, not more than say my parents or Mazikeen or anyone else that loosely reminded her of him; Lucifer, the man who had stolen her heart and brought it down to hell.


End file.
